


See the Sun

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Character Study, Early in Canon, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 12:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8144230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: A Kes ficlet for the Trek Women Drabblefest on Tumblr.
Prompt: “I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.” - Lucille Ball





	

Kes sometimes woke at night not knowing where she was, and it wasn’t until she looked up and saw the stars blurring past above her head that she remembered she had left her world, probably forever. Never again would she walk down to the gardens, water the plants with Daggin, listen to Heldra’s singing and Galkat’s complaining as they worked. Never again would she make the weekly visit to her parents’ memorial stone. **  
**

On those nights she wandered the corridors of the ship, part of her still not quite believing that she was here. She remembered how desperate she had been to see the sun, how she had planned in secret, worked for months to find the way to the surface. Even after the Kazon had captured her - still blinking awed tears from her eyes in the too-bright light - it had felt like she’d done something momentous. When she’d lain in her dusty corner of their compound that first night and saw the stars come out, she’d felt as though she had been given a gift more precious and incredible than anything she could have imagined.

And she’d known so little then. Her imagination had been too small. She understood now that seeing the sun, seeing the night sky, was nothing in comparison to everything she’d experienced since joining Voyager’s crew, but she still thought of it often - how right it had felt when she scrambled up toward the dim halo of light, and broken through into golden brilliance. She’d seen more amazing things since, but that one would always be special. It wasn’t her little sun’s fault that it was, galactically speaking, ordinary. It wasn’t her world’s fault that she had left it.

A week or two into their journey, Captain Janeway had asked her if she was sure about what she was doing.

‘We could find a way to get you back beneath the surface,’ she’d said. ‘Don’t worry about the Kazon, we can handle them. If you want to go home, Kes, we’ll take you there. You’re young, and this was a big decision to make so quickly.’

Kes shook her head. ‘Thank you, captain, but no. I can’t go back there. Now that I’ve seen the sky, how could I spend the rest of my life underground?’

The captain smiled like they shared a secret, and Kes felt like anything, anything was possible.

When Kes felt lonely, when she remembered that, with every passing day, she was further and further from home, she held that feeling close and remembered that the journey was worth it.


End file.
